"Mongolia is kind of close, right?" Story about an attempt to ski everywhere in the world where there's snow. And in some places where there isn't. On and off-piste skiing on all continents, skiing into craters of live volcanoes, caving, climbing, photography, and travel.

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Does anyone remember the arcade game where you stood on skis? I loved that game, and one of the interesting tracks in the game goes through a cave. Ever since playing the game I have wanted to experience skiing underground. This week I was visiting Alpe d'Huez, France, and my wish was fulfilled. The "Le Tunnel" slope begins with a 200 meter tunnel through the mountain. And then continues as the most difficult black run the ski area has to offer.

The experience was interesting, albeit not quite like in the game. The tunnel is very narrow, and has only a 3% downgrade. So there was no high-speed skiing. More like pushing myself through. The tunnel is at an altitude of 3000 meters.

This way!

Entrance

Val d'Isere

While Le Tunnel is man-made, Vallée Perdue in Val d'Isere, France, is all natural. An off-piste not suitable for the claustrophobic, as this canyon is so narrow that it ends up closing up above you in a couple of places. Eventually you have to ski through a short cave to continue the route. And climb a few ice falls.

A ski-through cave

Climbing down a small ice fall

And if you are wondering about the skis and clothes, we skied this route a long time ago -- somewhere in the end of the 1990s.

Grenoble

But that is not all. Simon Christy's blog describes a ski run in Chourum de la Parza, a cave south of Grenoble. Here you can ski under the ground for real. There is only the small matter of a 50 meter abseil to reach the cave. I'd like to do this some day... Check out the video from Simon:

Other Tunnels

There are obviously plenty of tunnels to cross intersections or roads. Returning from the great after-ski at the Zoo Bar in Alpe d'Huez we spotted a skiable tunnel. (Hey! I had worked for twelve days straight before this weekend, so some after-ski was due.) It turned out that the tunnel is a route to allow the skiers on the Village ski run reach the lower parts of the village by going under a hotel.

Zoo Bar

Exit from the Village ski run at Alp d'Huez

Also, Alpe d'Huez sports another oddity: a chairlift that runs under an airport runway. The altiport (IATA code AHZ) has one downward-sloping runway that ends in a concrete block through which the ski lift goes. By the time the planes reach the end of the concrete block, they better be in the air!

But more about this airport in my next blog entry...

The end of the runway

Inside the concrete block and under the runway

Final Words

All in all, there's surprisingly small amount of underground skiing. I even asked Steve Duncan, an urban historian and underground explorer for hints. He didn't have any.

Is this really all underground skiing there is on this planet? Please tell me it is not so!

And while you ponder that question, maybe some of you will enjoy a video of Steve's explorations. It is off-topic for my blog, but I'd say that this is as close to the definition of ill-advised adventuring as you can get. Not to mention illegal and suicidal. But it is an amazing video, check it out: